Page 40 of Hellhound AU

Before I could suggest taking it back to the bedroom (what? My man was hella sexy), my phone rang. I sighed, but it was the ringtone for Ethel, and she didn’t usually call.

I disentangled myself from Rowan and grabbed my phone, answering, “Hello?”

“Milo. We need you to come down here. Betsy is missing.”

It took me a minute to remember who Betsy was—the college student who wasn’t leaving her dorm room. The one we were supposed to check up on. We’d gotten so caught up in the dog ring that we hadn’t spent much time looking into our other jobs.

“I’ll be right there.”

I filled Rowan in on the way out to the car, and he could tell I felt guilty for not checking things out sooner.

“We’ll find her, Milo,” Rowan assured me.

It wasn’t just that I was worried about Betsy. I mean, of course I was—I never wanted someone hurt or injured. But the crew had asked me to look into this, and I felt like I’d dropped the ball on them.

Rowan drove to the retirement home. He also reassured me; he was a hellhound, his sisters were harpies, and we would do whatever was necessary to find the missing woman. Plus, she was a college student. She might have just been out partying or met someone and stayed overnight.

We headed down the hallway and went and knocked on Ethel’s door. When she opened it, the whole crew was inside, and they were all looking worried.

“What happened?” I demanded.

Beatrice filled me in. “Mildred usually hears from her every day, and she couldn’t get ahold of her yesterday. She waited until today and kept trying, but Betsy never answered her phone. Mildred finally called the college, and they had the RA for the floor knock on the door. No answer. The college doesn’t seem concerned, even though the girl did miss her classes today. It apparently isn’t odd for kids to miss a day or two.”

“Of course it isn’t odd for most college students,” Ethel added, “but Betsy hasn’t been acting right, and the girl has been checking in with her mom regularly. She came to lunch a few weeks ago, and she’s a very shy and responsible young woman. She’s not someone who would just up and leave for a few days without telling anyone.”

“We’ll find her,” I promised. “Now tell me anything else you know.”

It turned out Betsy was an art major. She was in her second year of college, and she had a small group of close friends. She wasn’t a partier, she wasn’t dating anyone, and she hadn’t filed any official complaints with the college. She’d gone to at least one class yesterday, so the college didn’t count her as a missing person just because she wasn’t in her dorm room and missed class that morning.

“Could be anything, but a stalker seems most likely,” Rowan said. “Unless she was afraid of something or someone and really did leave of her own accord. It may be far-fetched that she wouldn’t tell her mother what she was doing if they were close, but if she was worried about dragging anyone else into a problem, I can see her keeping things quiet.”

Ethel nodded her head, and Beatrice agreed with us. “Yes, she’s a really sweet girl, and I can see her trying to protect her mom. Still, I don’t think she’d let her worry, either.”

“I can try and hack her email account and see if she has anything suspicious,” Ethel added.

“I can ask Mildred if she knows any of Betsy’s passwords,” Beatrice said. “That will help us when it comes to email and signing into her computer and such. Her mother probably has a good idea of what she’d use.”

Beatrice excused herself to make the phone call, and Ethel came over, putting her arm around my waist. “Beatrice was close to Betsy, and I hope you boys can find her easily. She would be devastated if anything happened to the girl.”

“We’ll do our best,” I assured Ethel.

She gave me a squeeze. “I’d be devastated if anything happened to you, too, so you boys be careful out there. I know you always are, but this hit close to home.”

I gave Ethel a hug. “I will, Ethel, I promise.”

“I’ll make sure he’s okay,” Rowan assured her.

We made a game plan to head to the college and do some snooping around. Beatrice talked to Betsy’s mom, and we got her dorm room, the names for Betsy’s friends, and her dorm RA’s name. She also had a few guesses on email passwords and had some banking information, so Ethel would look into that while we did the legwork at the college.

Rowan and I got into the car and headed out. The college was over an hour away, so Ethel would have time to do research and fill us in even more once we got there.

We were quiet for a little bit, then Rowan said, “She loves you like family. It’s clear to see.”

I knew he was talking about Ethel, and it gave me warm fuzzies.

“Theyalllove you, but Ethel especially. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was your grandmother.”

I shook my head. “Ethel is… she’s snarky and plays practical jokes and is a wise-ass, but everyone loves her.” I looked at Rowan. “She’s all I have left of Aunt Anabelle. They both raised me together. Aunt Anabelle got custody of me when my parents died, and when I was young, it was just the two of us living together, although Ethel visited all the time. It wasn’t until I was a little older that Ethel moved in, and it was even longer before I realized that Aunt Anabelle and her were probably more than friends.”